I tried Spine of Ish Sah but its slow (its work so good in Master Transmuter build, put in this is so slow. But Claws + Shackles look have some value for real.
Lets do a Heartless DROP 2
4 myr 4 lupine 4 skite 4 lupine 4 Scrapheap Scrounger (just a joke)
ULKA
Just say me, how amount of shackles you feel it good, 3 maybe for fast draw one ? (i want to borrow of someone to try this)
In lost in all this idea to make an definitive build, valt seens good, shackles seens good for now
I think 2 shackles is ideal in the main deck. It gives us removal but also they can be a tad slower for some matchups and depending on the hand can be a bit of a dead card so 2 main deck seems right but a 3rd sideboard seems good as it seems brutal in several matchups.
1. 21 lands does not make me feel comfortable, i had much problens with 22 .. idk if its only me ...
2. Should run Fatal Push, in fact, i play with and without, i play with less number, and all games make difference.
3. Noxious Gearhulk should run in MB. He give much breath to our game.
Our best plays starts at T4, we need to save the early game. I need a time to put a new list together too
Just putting it here in case it was never mentioned before, the Claws of Gix can also be used to remove our own Heartless Summoning so we can get rid of the -1/-1 when our board presence is established.
Yeah Claws opens up lots of really cool lines of play. I have been loving playing with them.
@Ulka you may want to think about tweaking your mana base if you are playing Shackles. 1/3 of your lands aren't islands (or fetches) and you may run into problems with that. Also I would consider adding some instant speed removal (aside from Shackles) into the 75 so you can avoid a few autolosses to decks like Counters Company.
Most notably, the inclusion of Padeem removed the need to have counterspells for protection. You're also not too reliant on Lodestone Golem surviving the turn to make an impact. Padeem that's been copied using Phyrexian Metamorph makes itself hexproof.
I'm playing the claws along with the shackles for the combo that I mentioned earlier. The gameplay now is a bit slow but we have ways to retain card advantage while keeping the threats coming.
Further testing along with the recent modern unbanning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf has given rise to a need for counters again. I'm running 2 Stubborn Denials in the mainboard and have removed Padeem. I'm still testing the Vedalken Shackles and the Claws of Gix together. Any thoughts on your recent builds or the changing meta vs this deck?
I was thougth about this in this day ago. With bbe jund return do strong, with more Kolaghan's Command in scene, our life back to nightmare. I was so happy with my build with mim vat, i think it so interactive and synergistic.
I made an BUG build but was relutant to share here cause dont use Grand Architect and no depend much on artifacts in overall. I try this cause with jund back with more strong, i think we just need more threats dont be artifacts. I guess some counters protection should be good option too. maybe a full playset of Denials seens good
I'm really not sure how the meta is going to shake out so I'm mostly waiting to evaluate how to respond to it, but I do think that adding counters and slowing down is the wrong plan. If anything we need to speed up and win the game earlier. We will never win a grindy game against Jace. I also don't think Jund is coming back to full force. Even with BBE, Death's Shadow is still the better deck and will stick around as the prominent midrange deck.
@ghgiunco: Go ahead and post your BUG list. It might not be exactly relevant, but I'm curious what it's like. I was just staring at Glissa, the Traitor the other day and thinking about some BUG possibilities...
I choose Utopia Sprawl as redundance ramp (and can make mimic vat at T2), Sylvan Caryatid ramp hard to deal then some tradicional tools. It was a fast prototype i made for test against jund, and works well a have to say. Feedback on this is welcome too. I dont make an side.
The tax plan is good when and if it comes out but it's too unreliable left to it's own devices. It's in there in case we draw it, but I'm considering doing away with it. It's good against cascade though.
Unlike previous builds, the main focus here is to search up the goodies and put them into play. Having a Chief Engineer or Grand Architect in play when you put in the Sphinx Summoner allows you to go summonner, metamorph, metamorph, something else (normally Myr Superion).
There are no Glint-nest Cranes or Tezzerets. They're nice, but sometimes you don't need artifacts, and this is where the reliability of Serum Visions comes in. The fact that you can play it in your very first turn (instead of always doing nothing) is a huge upside since it can set up the reliability of our early turns. I'll still try out how to fit in the Cranes and Tezzeret without reverting but well see.
Memnarch is the top-end threat. When games go too long, we have a lot of mana to spare and sometimes resolving him allows us to steal an otherwise unwinnable state (ensnaring bridge, lantern locked, too many opposing bigger threats).
Stubborn Denial has been crucial. In turn 1 it stops any one mana discard or even aether vials. In later turns when we have a superion or wurmcoil in play it secures victories where otherwise we'd be crushed.
Lightning Greaves is the speedup necessary. Playing a Myr Superion on Turn 2 and then attacking on turn 3 is the same as playing the superion on Turn 3, play Greaves then attack.
Pithing Needle on the mainboard just seems to be absolutely necessary to deal with planeswalkers. Almost all Tier 1 decks have abilities we can stifle with this anyway, so having one on the main is useful.
No consistent draw engines means we're more top deck reliant, but having more search engines allows us to consistently get what we want. We're weaker to Mindlock Orb though.
4 Heartless Summoning in the mainboard now. We don't like seeing them in pairs, but since we have Claws of Gix to get rid of it when we don't need it, each extra copy is now just a 3: Gain 1 life. Having a higher probability of having it for turn 2 is worth the risk of having pairs.
If you have the time, try it out and see if it works well. I'd appreciate some criticisms and suggestions to help make it better.
Has anyone tried playing with Vedalken Archmage? If played on turn 3 along with other artifacts it could keep the engines running. Survives heartless so there's that.
I think the interaction is nice, but it would work better in a reanimation shell, where you have cards like Zombie Infestation to abuse the scry and then use The Scarab God's ability to reanimate what you discarded.
Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp is definitely a card to consider. One other card that I'm sure will be great for use if we can make good use of it is Traxos, Scourge of Kroog. I'll be testing this around but hopefully you guys could comment on any of your current builds and thoughts.
Zombie Infestation has a big cost to make it, not to good, titan make 2 just in etb, much value .. btw
Traxos was not spoiled when see Zahid, but traxos surely be include, it's something I looked for at times, cheap and evasive, we always will cast an artifact to untap, ill try it for sure. Traxos + Metamorph seens gorgeous.
Maybe Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is some card make me goes Grixis for more interaction too, but i guess the shell should be adjusted for it. Late game we just trade our copys of HS, push for something new ...
Traxos sadly is legendary, so copying it with metamorph won't do much good. But copying something else with metamorph will surely be able to untap Traxos.
Yeah, I've been testing it. However as it stands it's a bit slow since the Damnation effect is the second chapter. It would've been much stronger if it were the first effect.
I've also been testing Hostage Taker light you suggested before and it's proven to be a very good inclusion. It's a 2-for-1 if we get to resolve it properly and being able to recur our ETB is definitely amazing. I'm using 3 in the mainboard now.
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is still something I'm trying out in some quantity, but for now I've settled with 1. It can get very awkward with 2 in hand and it needs some work to be useful. There have been cases where it was out but I couldn't find a way to easily untap it. It has wonderful interaction with Chief Engineer though since it will always be one additional colorless mana off the casting cost of artifacts, and then it also untaps again (have Traxos untapped, cast an artifact by tapping him to pay the cost, Traxos' ability triggers and he becomes untapped).
For our multi-purpose removal, I'm thinking of trying out Echoing Truth. It's use is twofold: (2) bounce any threat/prison effects our opponents have that's preventing us from doing anything and (2) recur any of our ETB creatures.
Agree Phyrexian Scriptures, can work one time or other, but its s source, idk too, maybe ill test it too.
Happy to see you tested and approved Hostage Taker, i see potential since her was spoiled, i guess 2-3 is a fine amount in the main. I love card can be flexible and can make 2-1.
On Traxos, Scourge of Kroog, i guess 2 is the number ok. I get just 1 for now, but i want to play with 2off. We have lots artifact, but no test on it to see it is hard to stuck in hand/play.
On Echoing Truth, i use this in side, and help me alot, but i dont know it in MB. If the target is ETB ... if we test our kind of "Restoration Angel" (Sentinel of the Pearl Trident) to save some or do the effect again ? I know it can be slow, but can save/make tricks again, and its blue ...
My purpose for the Echoing Truth is for removal of pesky things that stop us in our tracks like Ensnaring Bridge, Ghostly Prison, Blood Moon, bigger creatures, planeswalkers and the like. Normally when we're ahead we can lay the beatdown pretty easily, but sometimes a single non-creature card that we can't remove or return ruins our day.
We have no mainboard general purpose removal that's efficient enough to deal with annoying threats so I'm trying in Echoing Truth (1-of) and Engineered Explosives (1-of) in main. There's another Echoing Truth in the side in case it's needed or creature removal is not necessary.
Unlike destroy spells, we can use truth on our own permanents and creatures. And we can even return our Heartless Summoning in case we don't need it anymore (for those little extra points of damage).
Last day i played this build, mor mid-range oriented, and i liked, having more interactions and protection (with discards and Denial we can hit this problens you cited. I need more time to play and feel it, but for one day i liked. Cause this i prefer Echoing in side, but it is my preference.
.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I tried Spine of Ish Sah but its slow (its work so good in Master Transmuter build, put in this is so slow. But Claws + Shackles look have some value for real.
Lets do a Heartless DROP 2
4 myr 4 lupine 4 skite 4 lupine 4 Scrapheap Scrounger (just a joke)
ULKA
Just say me, how amount of shackles you feel it good, 3 maybe for fast draw one ? (i want to borrow of someone to try this)
In lost in all this idea to make an definitive build, valt seens good, shackles seens good for now
2 Vedalken Shackles
Artifact Creature (19)
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Myr Superion
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Spellskite
2 Walking Ballista
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Creature (13)
2 Chief Engineer
4 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Grand Architect
3 Mulldrifter
3 Heartless Summoning
Planeswalker (2)
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Land (21)
1 Academy Ruins
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
5 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Tolaria West
3 Watery Grave
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Claws of Gix
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Pithing Needle
1 Spellskite
1 Sphinx Summoner
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Trinket Mage
2 Yahenni's Expertise
1. 21 lands does not make me feel comfortable, i had much problens with 22 .. idk if its only me ...
2. Should run Fatal Push, in fact, i play with and without, i play with less number, and all games make difference.
3. Noxious Gearhulk should run in MB. He give much breath to our game.
Our best plays starts at T4, we need to save the early game. I need a time to put a new list together too
@Ulka you may want to think about tweaking your mana base if you are playing Shackles. 1/3 of your lands aren't islands (or fetches) and you may run into problems with that. Also I would consider adding some instant speed removal (aside from Shackles) into the 75 so you can avoid a few autolosses to decks like Counters Company.
3 Grand Architect
3 Chief Engineer
2 Glint-Nest Crane
3 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
Enchantment
4 Heartless Summoning
Land
2 River of Tears
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Academy Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Tolaria West
4 Island
1 Swamp
2 Claws of Gix
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Dimir Signet
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Spellskite
2 Walking Ballista
1 Duplicant
3 Myr Superion
3 Lodestone Golem
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Instant
1 Dismember
Planeswalker
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Trinket Mage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Spellskite
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Fatal Push
1 Spell Pierce
2 Dismember
Most notably, the inclusion of Padeem removed the need to have counterspells for protection. You're also not too reliant on Lodestone Golem surviving the turn to make an impact. Padeem that's been copied using Phyrexian Metamorph makes itself hexproof.
I'm playing the claws along with the shackles for the combo that I mentioned earlier. The gameplay now is a bit slow but we have ways to retain card advantage while keeping the threats coming.
I made an BUG build but was relutant to share here cause dont use Grand Architect and no depend much on artifacts in overall. I try this cause with jund back with more strong, i think we just need more threats dont be artifacts. I guess some counters protection should be good option too. maybe a full playset of Denials seens good
@ghgiunco: Go ahead and post your BUG list. It might not be exactly relevant, but I'm curious what it's like. I was just staring at Glissa, the Traitor the other day and thinking about some BUG possibilities...
3x Watery Grave
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Overgrown Tomb
4x Polluted Delta
2x Island
2x Swamp
3x Breeding Pool
4x Utopia Sprawl
3x Fatal Push
1x Abrupt Decay
4x Thoughtseize
2x Mimic Vat
1x Claws of Gix
3x Noxious Gearhulk
3x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Shriekmaw
2x Havengul Lich
2x Acidic Slime
3x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Mulldrifter
I choose Utopia Sprawl as redundance ramp (and can make mimic vat at T2), Sylvan Caryatid ramp hard to deal then some tradicional tools. It was a fast prototype i made for test against jund, and works well a have to say. Feedback on this is welcome too. I dont make an side.
3 Grand Architect
2 Chief Engineer
1 Trinket Mage
1 Treasure Mage
Enchantment
4 Heartless Summoning
Land
2 River of Tears
1 Tolaria West
1 Underground River
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
1 Academy Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Field of Ruin
4 Island
1 Swamp
2 Lightning Greaves
1 Claws of Gix
1 Pithing Needle
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Dimir Signet
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Spellskite
1 Walking Ballista
1 Duplicant
2 Sphinx Summoner
1 Memnarch
3 Myr Superion
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Instant
3 Stubborn Denial
Sorcery
3 Serum Visions
1 Trinket Mage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Walking Ballista
1 Echoing Truth
3 Fatal Push
2 Dismember
2 Duress
A few things to note:
If you have the time, try it out and see if it works well. I'd appreciate some criticisms and suggestions to help make it better.
There are also a few other cards that would be interesting in the upcoming Dominaria set:
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
Urza's Tome
Damping Sphere - effective against tron, storm and other decks that play a lot of spells per turn
Jhoira's Familiar - another artifact for cost reductions
Other card from Dominaria that look interesting: Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp, Blue, Fly and good power in this alter cost is so low for us.
But one card i want a real test is Frost Titan. I just think we need mor density threath
Grave Titan + The Scarab God
Titan make tons of zombies each attack, its a good free damage and scrys per turn.
Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp is definitely a card to consider. One other card that I'm sure will be great for use if we can make good use of it is Traxos, Scourge of Kroog. I'll be testing this around but hopefully you guys could comment on any of your current builds and thoughts.
I'm also thinking of a way to fit in Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain and profit from her ability.
Traxos was not spoiled when see Zahid, but traxos surely be include, it's something I looked for at times, cheap and evasive, we always will cast an artifact to untap, ill try it for sure. Traxos + Metamorph seens gorgeous.
Maybe Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is some card make me goes Grixis for more interaction too, but i guess the shell should be adjusted for it. Late game we just trade our copys of HS, push for something new ...
Phyrexian Scriptures
Good Damnation effect and save some of our creatures (if not all)
I've also been testing Hostage Taker light you suggested before and it's proven to be a very good inclusion. It's a 2-for-1 if we get to resolve it properly and being able to recur our ETB is definitely amazing. I'm using 3 in the mainboard now.
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is still something I'm trying out in some quantity, but for now I've settled with 1. It can get very awkward with 2 in hand and it needs some work to be useful. There have been cases where it was out but I couldn't find a way to easily untap it. It has wonderful interaction with Chief Engineer though since it will always be one additional colorless mana off the casting cost of artifacts, and then it also untaps again (have Traxos untapped, cast an artifact by tapping him to pay the cost, Traxos' ability triggers and he becomes untapped).
For our multi-purpose removal, I'm thinking of trying out Echoing Truth. It's use is twofold: (2) bounce any threat/prison effects our opponents have that's preventing us from doing anything and (2) recur any of our ETB creatures.
Happy to see you tested and approved Hostage Taker, i see potential since her was spoiled, i guess 2-3 is a fine amount in the main. I love card can be flexible and can make 2-1.
On Traxos, Scourge of Kroog, i guess 2 is the number ok. I get just 1 for now, but i want to play with 2off. We have lots artifact, but no test on it to see it is hard to stuck in hand/play.
On Echoing Truth, i use this in side, and help me alot, but i dont know it in MB. If the target is ETB ... if we test our kind of "Restoration
Angel" (Sentinel of the Pearl Trident) to save some or do the effect again ? I know it can be slow, but can save/make tricks again, and its blue ...We have no mainboard general purpose removal that's efficient enough to deal with annoying threats so I'm trying in Echoing Truth (1-of) and Engineered Explosives (1-of) in main. There's another Echoing Truth in the side in case it's needed or creature removal is not necessary.
Unlike destroy spells, we can use truth on our own permanents and creatures. And we can even return our Heartless Summoning in case we don't need it anymore (for those little extra points of damage).
3 Thoughtseize
3 Stubborn Denial
4 Fatal Push
4 Grand Architect
4 Myr Superion
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Hostage Taker
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Noxious Gearhulk
Last day i played this build, mor mid-range oriented, and i liked, having more interactions and protection (with discards and Denial we can hit this problens you cited. I need more time to play and feel it, but for one day i liked. Cause this i prefer Echoing in side, but it is my preference.
.